Cooling system container

ABSTRACT

A cooling system container for use with a recovery-type vehicle cooling system is disclosed, said container having a liquid coolant fill opening and at least two port means formed therein, said improvement comprising said port means formed in diagonal corners of said container and said fill opening formed in the corner of said container between said port means, each said port means in the form of a severable hollow pipe which projects from said container, said hollow pipes projecting at right angles to each other so that in each of two vertical positions of said container said fill opening is in an upper corner thereof, one of said pipes is in the other upper corner thereof projecting vertically so as to be capable of serving as an air vent therefor and the other of said pipes is in a lower corner thereof projecting horizontally so as to be capable of serving as a liquid coolant inlet therefor.

I finned States Patent [1 1 [111 3,757,984

Barton Sept. 1 1, 1973 COOLING SYSTEM CONTAINER Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance [75] Inventor: Frederic D. Barton, Kaneohe, Atmmey wlmam F'sher Hawaii [73] Assignee: Fre-Bar 1nc., Holly, Mich. [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Aug. 16, 1971 A cooling system container for use with a recoverytype vehicle cooling system is disclosed, said container [21] Appl' 1724,31 having a liquid coolant fill opening and at least two port means formed therein, said improvement comprising [52] C 3/ 1 15 said port means formed in diagonal corners of said con- 215/ C tainer and said fill opening formed in the corner of said [51] Int. Cl B65d 17/06, 365d 1 1/10 container between said port means, each said port 8] Field of ea c 1 means in the form of a severable hollow pipe which 1 154, 41.27, 41.14 projects from said container, said hollow pipes projecting at right angles to each other so that in each of two [56] References Cited vertical positions of said container said fill opening is UNITED STATES PATENTS in an upper corner thereof, one of said pipes is in the 3 583 596 6/1971 Ferraro 215 10 ("her PPer come thereofpmjecting Vertically as 0/1971 Krizman u 23/4154 be capable of serving as an air vent therefor and the 3953 1942 Rentschlerm 220 27 other of said pipes is in a lower corner thereof project- 2,750,068 6/1956 Platt 220/27 ing horizontally so as to be capable of serving as a liq- 3,l93,041 7/1965 Peras 123/4154 uid coolant inlet therefor. 3,176,879 4/1965 Mojonnier 215/1 C 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented Sept. 11, 1973 TO R R? B m D O .N mw m m R COOLING SYSTEM CONTAINER My invention relates to recovery type cooling systems for vehicles.

The principal object of my invention is the provision of a cooling system container for use with a recovery type vehicle cooling system which can be disposed in two different vertical positions while its fill opening is maintained in an upper corner of said container.

The foregoing object of my invention and the advantages thereof will become apparent during the course of the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1-3 are, respectively, front and end elevational and fragmentary top plan views of a cooling system container embodying my invention;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of said container shown in use;

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, generally designates said container which is hollow, essentially rectangular in both horizontal and vertical crosssections, and has essentially six sides or walls, two front and back walls 11, two top and bottom walls 12 and two end walls 13. lnthe instance, the four corners of the container are formed of walls 16-19, respectfully, which are angled in respect to both the horizontal and vertical. In an upper comer of the container 10, i. e. in the angled wall 19, a fill opening 20 is formed in the form of an upstanding annular cylindrical wall 14 provided with male threads for threadably engaging a closure cap 15 for said container 10 so that the latter can assume two different vertical positions in which it holds substantially equal volumes of coolant liquid while, in either position said fill opening is maintained in an upper corner of said container 10. One vertical position for the container 10 is shown in FIG. 1 with the walls 12 horizontal while the other vertical position therefor is shown in FIG; 4 in phantom lines with the walls 12 vertical.

-At least two and, in the instance, three port means 21-23 are provided on the container 10. Two of said port means '21 and 23 are at the two comers adjacent said fill opening 20 and serve as inlet and vent openings, respectively, or vice versa, depending upon the orientation of the container 10 and a third of which 17 is at the diagonal comer from said fill opening 20-and may serve as an outlet opening if the port means 21 serves as an inlet opening in the particular application for the container 10. Each port means 21-23 is in the form of a hollow pipe integral with the main body of the container 10 at the longitudinal center thereof having a closed free end which is constructed with a ring 26 for therein for engaging spaced apart fingers on one end of a mounting bracket 35 the other end of which is provided with apertures for receiving fasteners 36 for engaging the firewall 43 of the vehicle beneath the hood thereof.

In operation of my invention, said container 10 is used as a coolant recovery container for a recovery type vehicle cooling system such as shown in FIG. 3 for which purpose the port means 21 and 23 are first opened by cutting off the ends thereof at the respective rings 26. Said container 10 is then positioned beneath the hood of a vehicle in either its horizontal or vertical position depending upon which position makes the best fit within the limited space beneath said hood. It is for this purpose of fitting the container 10 in a limited space that it is constructed so that it can be disposed in two different vertical positions while said fill opening 20 is maintained in an upper corner thereof. Said container 10 is mounted usually upon the vehicle firewall by one or more brackets 35. In mounting the container 10 beneath said hood the ribs 32 and 27 serve as hanging means for the container 10 in either of its positions and the rib 30 serves as hanging means or additional bottom support means for said container 10 depending upon its position.

Said container 10 is then interconnected with a crossflow radiator 38 by a section of rubber tubing 39 having opposite ends thereof fitted over, respectively, the port means 21 and over an overflow pipe integral with the neck 53 of the radiator fill opening. A radiator cap 29 seals said fill opening in two places, i.e. above and below said overflow pipe as is usual with coolant recovery type cooling systems. Said cap 29 is provided with both a pressure valve and a vacuum valve which opens, respectively, upon attainment of a predetermined pressure and vacuumin said radiator 38. One end of a second section of rubber tubing 40 is fitted over the port means 23, the other end of which is directed toward the severing said end in the field to fit'the container 10-for use and with a rib 25 inwardly of said ring 26 for anchoring rubber tubing to be connected to the respective port means 21-23. 1

The container 10 is constructed so that when it is full the volume 'of coolant liquid therein will be essentially the same in either position of said container 10. In the instance, the wall '19 is disposed at a 30 -60 angle in respect to the walls 12 and 13, respectively, and the walls 12 are slightly longer than the walls 13. Said container 10 is provided with mounting means integral with the main body of the container 10 at the longitudinalcenter thereof in the form of a plurality of ribs 27, 30 and 32 projecting outwardly, respectively, from one .of' the walls 13 and from the two walls 12. The ribs 27,

30 and 32 have spaced apart apertures 28, 31 and 33 ground. I

In operation of the particular vehicle when the engine of the latter is cold, the level of coolant in the container 10 will be at its lowest level as the coolant will have been. transferred through said vacuum valve into the radiator 38 from contraction of the coolant from said radiator 38 under vacuum from being cooled. When the vehicle is hot the level of coolant in the container 10 will be at its highest level as the coolant will be transferred through said pressure valve from the radiator, 38 from expansion of the coolant from said radiator 38 being pressurized from being hot. At all times the radiator 38 will be full, i.e. the coolant level therein will be up to the level of the overflow pipe in the neck 53 thereof, which is the purpose of a recovery type vehicle cooling system. The level line marked with an arrow for each of the two vertical positions of the container 10 and the words ADD COOLANT IF HERE WHEN HOT indicate the minimum permissible hot coolant level. It should be noted that the level linefor the position of the container 10 when the walls 12 are horizontal is slightly lower than when the walls 12are vertical which is due to the slightly longer length of the .walls 12 than the walls 13. In either position of the container 10, if .the coolant level is below this level line when the coolant is hot it indicates that there is a leak in the cooling system in which instance the addition of a stop-leak preparation, such as Bars Leaks, is necessary to stop the leak together with afurther amount of coolant to maintain the required minimum volume of coolant.

If the container is orientated in its position as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4 the port means 23 and 21 serve as inlet and vent ports, respectively, for the container 10. in either position the container 10 receives coolant liquid via its inlet opening and the tubing 39 from the radiator 38 when the latter is hot and pressurized and returns said coolant liquid when the radiator 38 is cooled and under vacuum. In a full radiator or recovery type vehicle cooling system, there is little likelihood of overflow from the container 10 but in such event the tubing 40 connected to the vent opening 23 (in one position of the container 10 and 21 in the other position thereof) conveys such overflow, if any, to the ground. The container 10 can be made in various sizes but to keep it a handy size it is preferred to use more than one container 10 to accommodate the expansion of coolant in large cooling systems, such as on trucks, in which case two coolant containers 10 are arranged in series with each other as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 4. The port means 22 of the first container 10 is cut at the respective ring 26 to serve as an outlet opening and is connected via a tubing 45 with the inlet opening 21 of the second container 10 which is used as before described with the port means 23 thereof serving as a vent opening to'which is connected a tubing 52 serving asan overflow conduit for the second container 10.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by my invention a cooling system container for use with a recovery type vehicle cooling system in which the object hereinabove set forth, together with many practical advantages, has been successfully achieved. While a preferred embodiment of my invention has been shown and described it is to be understood that variations and changes may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

What i claim is:

1. improvement in a cooling system container for use with a recovery-type vehicle cooling system, said container having a liquid coolant fill opening and at least two port means formed therein, said improvement comprising said port means formed in diagonal comers of said container and said fill opening formed in the comer of said container between said port means, each said port means in the form of a severable hollow pipe which projects from said container, said hollow pipes projecting at right angles to each other so that in each of two vertical positions of said container said till opening is in an upper corner thereof, one of said pipes is in the other upper comer thereof projecting vertically so as to be capable of serving as an air vent therefor and the other of said pipes is in a lower corner thereof projecting horizontally so as to be capable of serving as a liquid coolant inlet therefor.

2. A cooling system container as claimed in claim 1, a third port means for said container formed in the corner of said container diagonal in respect to said fill opening.

3. Improvements as claimed in claim 1, each said pipe formed in an angled wall in its respective corner so as to project therefrom toward but not beyond an outside wall of said container.

* t i I! 

1. Improvement in a cooling system container for use with a recovery-type vehicle cooling system, said container having a liquid coolant fill opening and at least two port means formed therein, said improvement comprising said port means formed in diagonal corners of said container and said fill opening formed in the corner of said container between said port means, each said port means in the form of a severable hollow pipe which projects from said container, said hollow pipes projecting at right angles to each other so that in each of two vertical positions of said container said fill opening is in an upper corner thereof, one of said pipes is in the other upper corner thereof projecting vertically so as to be capable of serving as an air vent therefor and the other of said pipes is in a lower corner thereof projecting horizontally so as to be capable of serving as a liquid coolant inlet therefor.
 2. A cooling system container as claimed in claim 1, a third port means for said container formed in the corner of said container diagonal in respect to said fill opening.
 3. Improvements as claimed in claim 1, each said pipe formed in an angled wall in its respective corner so as to project therefrom toward but not beyond an outside wall of said container. 